Trouble in Tokyo
by Vanessa Gordon
Summary: I've always thought it was wierd no one from JLA or anything showed up in Tokyo to find out what was going on when Robin was in jail for murder. So, now someone does. Will still be mostly cannon. RobStar


I put the sunglasses over my eyes, comfortably back behind my façade. I glanced down at the handcuffed mugger before putting my hands in my pocket and walking casually out of the alley. At this point, I wasn't worried about what that would look like when they found him. It's not like I could make it worse.

I continued down the street. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for. Really, what could I do now? I had no idea where my team was, not to mention I was now the one thing I'd spent almost my whole life fighting against. I was a criminal, the worst type of criminal. I…that's it. I turned my footsteps toward the worst part of town. Criminals knew about other criminals, and that's how I'd find out about Brushogun.

I found a suitably dirty looking bar, and walked in. There were a few large brutish men, a skimpily dressed waitress and a bar tender. Ignoring the strange looks from the men, I walked up to the bar. One man was sitting on a stool, and he gave me a look, starting to babble in Japanese. I didn't have to understand him, I could recognize that look. So I just grabbed his arm and twisted it, throwing him over my shoulder. I leapt forward and grabbed the bar tender by the collar.

"_Speak English?"_ I sneered. He nodded. "_Good. This is the worst part of town, so I figure you know something about Tokyo's criminals. What do you know about Brushogun?_" He laughed.

"_He's a myth._" I narrowed my gaze, opening my mouth to snap at him, but fear flashed across his face and he beat me to it. "_The cops don't like us to talk about him, say it inspires other criminals!"_

_ "Inspire me."_

_ "He's real, but he disappeared around when the troupers showed up."_ Sirens wailed, and he smiled. "_Tokyo troupers and I don't think they're here for me._" I threw him backwards and walked through the bar to the back exit. I had what I needed. I was going to take down Brushogun, and nothing was stopping me. Instead of outside, I found myself in a garage. I saw a blue motorcycle, and smiled slightly, walking over and putting the helmet on my head. I figured I was only getting myself in more trouble, but I didn't have anything to lose anymore. So I strapped the helmet onto my head, gunned the engine, and bust out of the garage, driving straight at the troupers. They started shooting at me, but I just jumped over them. I pulled a tight turn and started off down the street, the trouper's fire following me. Suddenly, a figure appeared in my path. I started to swerve, but I clipped her leg, knocking her forward. Instead of letting her face-plant, I just grabbed her forearm and pulled her onto the bike behind me.

A high pitched shriek filled my ears as I continued down the street. I frowned, but didn't throw her off. After all, she was keeping the troopers from shooting at me. I turned right sharply, dodging into traffic to lose the troopers. Immediately my passenger looped her arms around my chest, holding on for dear life. I felt bad for putting her in danger, but throwing her off in the middle of a high speed chase didn't really seem like a good alternative.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"I won't hurt you," I replied. "Just please stop screaming." Suddenly, I saw a road block in front of us.

"Give up my friend," the commander said from the road block. I started to swerve to a stop, and I felt her grip loosen around my waist.

"Hope you know what you're doing," she said before being thrown, screaming once more, from the back of the bike towards the roadblock, landing and rolling so she landed a yard from the troupers, who stopped, rushing forward to check that she was alright. Meanwhile, I had stopped, and I stood up, holding my hand in the air, allowing Starfire to dart down and carry me away.

We landed in some room, which Starfire explained should be safe for now. It even turned out that Raven had found out Brushogun's back story. I changed back into my uniform, feeling a sense of security as soon as I was back behind my mask.

_"Titans, this is our mission. We're fugitives from the law. We have a criminal that can make more criminals, and the only way to clear out names is to take him down._" Beastboy looked at me.

"_One teeny problem: everyone in Tokyo is out to get us!"_ Just to prove his point, our attackers from earlier, the troupers, a bunch of random girls and chefs showed up.

"_Titans, go!"_ I yelled, and we set off.

We had just managed to escape a bunch of girls who were chasing Beastboy around when the troopers were on us again. We grouped together, preparing to fight. Suddenly, the world filled with smoke, and I felt someone grab my arm. Next thing I knew, we were standing in the middle of an alleyway. I glanced around, barely catching a bit of red at the end of the alley, but it was gone before I could even be sure I'd really seen it.

"What…?" Cyborg demanded, glancing around, finally settling on me. "Robin, did you…?" I shook my head.

"Looks like someone's on our side," Beastboy offered. The image of that girl rolling off the edge of the motorcycle flashed through my head. _I hope you know what you're doing._

"We need to get out of here," Raven said.

"Let's find Brushogun," I decided on, glancing up at the comic book factory in front of us. I think I knew where he was.

I'll admit, I was very, very confused. Brushogun, the evil villain who had attacked our home, brought us to Tokyo and **framed** me, was a frail old man trapped in a printing press? If he'd sent Saico-Tek after us as a call for help then… it clicked.

"_There's only one person that stands from creating criminals_," I reasoned as we faced the person in the dimly lit chair. "The _hero who catches them. Isn't that right, commander_?" He spun around to face us, far to calm for my liking.

"_Very good, my friend,"_ he drawled, putting his hat on his head. "_But you haven't caught me, I've caught you_!" Suddenly, we were surrounded by Tokyo troupers.

"_Wait,_" Beastboy said, looking very confused. "_If the good guy was really a bad guy, that means…aww sweet, we're the good guys again_!" I fumed, glaring accusingly at Daizo.

"_You're a fraud Daizo, a fake_," I accused. "_Brushogun was the only real criminal you ever caught, wasn't he_?" He just smiled.

"_One was enough_." This just made me angrier.

"_You used Brushogun's powers to lie, to make yourself look like a hero. And when I started looking for the truth, you made me look like a criminal_." I spit out the last word, because no one could really know just how horrible it had felt to be a criminal for me. Daizo just stood there, surrounded by his gun wielding troupers.

"_That's a nice little story young man, but I doubt anyone would believe you once you're all behind bars_," he said. "_Troopers, charge_!"

"_Titans, go_!" I responded, and I leapt at the nearest trooper, knocking him over, then spun and knocked the gun out of the other one's hand. Eventually, I slammed a one in the head with my staff, and knocked his helmet off, causing him to melt into a puddle.

"_Titans, the troopers, they aren't real_!" I yelled. Unfortunately, that meant the commander made several dozen more of all the villains who'd been attacking us. We'd managed to get around most of them, and I found myself momentarily unoccupied, so I glanced at the chair in the middle of the room. The commander wasn't there, which is when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and glanced up to see him running along the catwalk. No way was I letting him do that. I dashed up into his path.

_"Running away?_" I taunted. "_I guess they just don't make heroes like they used to._" He tried to shoot at me, but I blocked the bullets, using my staff to knock the gun from his hand and kicking him backwards. He's lucky I didn't just smack him with my staff, but I had slightly more control than that. Of course, when he started chuckling, it didn't help his case.

"_Give it up my friend, you cannot win._" I swear, this guy was trying to get me to beat him to a pulp.

"_I'd say I just did._" I growled.

"_You can knock me down all you want, destroy me if you like, but it doesn't change a thing!"_ he declared, backing away from me. "_When this is over, everyone out there will still think you're a criminal, and the people of Tokyo will still call me a hero_!" I frowned, deciding I was going to wipe that smug grin off his face. Suddenly, he stopped backing up, jumping and whirling to face a shadow standing behind him.

"You so sure about that?" the shadow asked, their voice barely more than a whisper, but it made the commander leap backwards in terror, and I'm pretty sure I may have jumped a little too.

"What are you doing here?" the commander demanded.

"Investigating," they replied. "I think I mentioned that when I showed up here?" The commander suddenly regained his calm motif.

"Arrest…" he started.

"Oh no," they stepped closer, and he edged backwards. "No commander, I know a villain when I see one." He glanced between the two of us, then jumped over the edge of the catwalk and down into a printing press. I cast a quick glance at my companion. She didn't look back, simply staring down after him for about half a second, which was all I needed. She really didn't look that different from the last time I saw her, same costume: black and yellow, and same long red hair. But something about her seemed just the slightest bit off. She glanced at me, and I quickly pretended to only just be turning to face her as well. She grabbed my arm, yanking me back towards the other side of the catwalk before the whole factory exploded.

I landed hard, piles of ink surrounding me. I leapt to my feet, finding my team surrounding me. The commander appeared at the head of a giant ink monster. _This wasn't good._ The ink monster flicked its hand, and drops of ink fell to the ground, solidifying into the same bad guys we'd just been fighting, except in different and mixed colors.

"Titans, go!" I yelled, and we attacked. I threw one Saico-Tek over my shoulder, smashing through another with my staff. But when I spun around, the Saico-Tek wasn't coming back at me. It had just gotten up and continued towards another clump of drawings. I raced after him, taking him out with my staff. Suddenly, a cat-lady flew at me, and I batted her out of the way with my staff. A robo-cheff dissolved in front of me, and I could see her standing in the middle of the group. As I watched, she took out two cat-ladies at once, slamming the second into a Saico-Tek. All three melted back into ink. She whirled to engage a robo-cheff, when a pink and yellow Saico-Tek lifted his hand to hit her. I leapt forward, slicing through him with my staff. She spun around, holding a small black bat-shaped piece of metal ready to throw, but she drew it back.

We locked eyes for half a second before she spun back around, winging her metal bat at a row of drawings, chopping them in half. They melted as it flew back into her hand. I charged past her to the ink monster. I raced up it, batting away the wire's and pipes it swung at me until I reached Brushogun. He told me the only way to stop the commander was to remove him. I started pulling, but the ink began sucking me in too.

Soon I was completely submerged in ink. I couldn't see, I couldn't even breathe. It was good I'd taken a breath before I'd been sucked in. I think I was moving back out of the ink monster, but I couldn't really tell. Suddenly, my hand broke the surface. I pulled harder, finally shoving my way out. I gasped for breath, then I was falling, holding onto Brushogun's body. Something slammed into my side, and I changed direction, moving horizontally. Suddenly, I stopped moving. I opened my eyes to find myself shielded by a familiar shadow.

"Careful Boy Blunder," her voice hissed in my ear. "The ground's kind of hard." Then she was gone. I sat up, rolling Brushogun over to face me.

"_Thank you_," he said before melting into nothing in my arms. I stood, surveying the piles of ink left when the ink monster exploded. I saw Cyborg helping Raven up, and Beastboy spitting out a mouthful of ink. Then I saw Starfire's hand sticking out of a pile of ink.

"_Starfire!"_ I yelled as I sprinted over and dug her out. Thank god, she appeared to be okay. I whipped a smudge off her cheek, and she groaned slightly, opening up her eyes.

"_Are you okay?"_ I asked, pretty sure relief was evident in my face.

_"I am now_." I helped her up so she was kneeling next to me. Then it began to rain. I smiled, glancing at Beastboy as he did a victory dance. Then my gaze settled back on Starfire. Crap, I wasn't sure I could to this. I gulped, hoping I didn't look as nervous as I felt.

"_Starfire_?"

"_Yes?_"

"_I think I was wrong earlier."_

"_You do_?"

"_Maybe a hero isn't all I am. Maybe I could be…maybe we could be_…" Man, I sounded like an idiot.

"_Robin,_" she stopped me, probably because it was painful to listen to my failed attempts at talking. I glanced at her. "_Stop talking._" She leaned forward, and I copied her, meeting her lips with mine. We broke apart after a few seconds, leaning our heads together.

"_Well, it's about time,_" I heard Cyborg remarked. Starfire and I turned to face them, both still smiling. I stood up, holding out my hands to her and pulling her up. I kept one of her hands in mine, and she smiled at me.

As we walked over to our team mates, I noticed the shadow from earlier standing off to the side. She nodded at me, her expression dead pan, which showed me what was wrong with her earlier. She was acting like Him. But then I saw the smallest hint of a smile tugging at her mouth that told me I could expect Wally and Roy to know all about this by the time I was back. She hadn't really changed much. I nodded back, smiling just a little back. She turned and disappeared.

"Robin, what are you looking at?" Starfire asked me. I turned back to look at her.

"Nothing," I replied simply, leading the way over to where the commander was lying on the ground. On the way, I paused for a second, unnoticed by my teammates, to pick up the small black recording device from the ground. On it was a note:

"Oh, and nice disguise, Grayson. –B"


End file.
